Amnesty for DACA fails border security test - At the federal level, the Administration has: watered down asylum standards and ignored immigration benefit fraud; granted mass paroles; endlessly extended "Temporary" Protected Status to nationals of over a dozen countries; continued DACA; reduced the capacity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to locate, detain, and deport illegal aliens; and provided endless "due" process before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and in immigration court until an alien gets a green card. States and localities have created sanctuary jurisdictions in which public officials refuse to ask a person’s immigration status or to communicate with ICE. They further facilitate illegal aliens’ ability to stay longer in the U.S. by providing drivers licenses, which lead to additional downstream benefits, like bank accounts, housing assistance and voting rights. Heritage Expert: Lora Ries

We Shouldn’t Be Promoting Voting By Mail - A polling place under the bipartisan supervision of election officials and the observation of poll watchers has numerous advantages. It helps ensure not only that the ballots are completed by the registered voters and deposited in a locked, sealed ballot box, but also that the voters’ eligibility and identity are verified; that no voters are pressured or coerced to vote a particular way by candidates, party activists, and political guns-for-hire, who are all prohibited from being inside the polling place; and that no ballots get “lost” in the mail or not delivered on time. To the average person, a ballot may not be as valuable as a $500 million lottery ticket but securing our ballots so that every eligible citizen can vote in a secure, fair, and honest election is worth quite a bit. In fact, it is essential to maintaining our democratic republic. Heritage Expert: Hans von Spakovsky

Lame-Duck Omnibus Would Double Down on Stagflation - Unable to agree on fiscal 2023 appropriations, lawmakers earlier approved a Continuing Resolution (CR) funding the government at 2022 levels. That temporary spending bill will expire Dec. 16. Congress must decide whether to extend the CR into next year or pass a full-year omnibus funding bill instead. The latter would be a tragic mistake. The far better option is to pass a clean CR and leave it to the newly elected Congress to craft spending in a way that reflects the will of the people and starts to restore fiscal sanity to Washington. Heritage Expert: Richard Stern

Oversight Project Shows Biden Administration Working With NGOs to Facilitate the Border Crisis - In a new memo titled, “Tracking Movement of Illegal Aliens from NGOs to Interior of USA”, the Oversight Project unveiled new data showing the massive numbers of illegal aliens who have made their way to NGO facilities physically located along the border and in border states, and subsequently traveled throughout the United States.  As part of the Oversight Project’s work to document NGO involvement in the border crisis, the Project launched an investigation which ultimately obtained a sampling of approximately 30,000 unique and anonymized mobile devices that were geofenced to a number of these NGOs along the border. These locations were chosen based on human source information, as well as open-source intelligence, that they may be involved in helping illegal aliens travel from the border to various parts of the interior. Heritage Expert: Mark Morgan, Tom Homan, Mike Howell, and Lora Ries

Apple May Soon Have to Choose Between China’s WeChat, and Elon Musk’s Twitter. -  Due to the effective absence of regulatory oversight in Silicon Valley, Apple has captured the mobile app market and is using its power to abuse rivals and stifle competition. When mobile app developers list their applications on the App Store, Apple forces them to consent to handing over 30 percent of all in-app transactions. When developers push back against this, Apple can move hastily to delist their application and impede their business. Apple’s abuse of mobile developers is not just limited to this so-called “Apple tax.” The company also uses its power to advance political positions. When free speech alternatives to Twitter emerged, Apple—along with Google and Amazon—swiftly removed them from the marketplace. Heritage Expert: Jake Denton

Rogue Superpower: China Is A Global Pariah And Shows No Remorse - The change in tone signals that Xi’s draconian COVID lockdowns may be gradually eased. Local governments are being told to target their lockdowns more narrowly, impose them quickly, and end them as fast as they can. Some locations – such as Beijing and Guangzhou, which are both experiencing surges of infections – are tweaking their rules to allow more business as usual, letting mild cases quarantine at home rather than forcing them into centralized facilities. But don’t assume this means Beijing is loosening its grip on the Chinese people. Nor should anybody expect a 180-degree shift in China’s COVID-19 policies. It is mostly the narrative that is shifting. If infections spike again, expect a quick return to brutal crackdowns. Heritage Expert: James Carafano and Michael Cunningham

Second GOP Congressman Renounces Vote for ‘Disrespect for Marriage Act’ - Another one of the 47 House Republicans who voted for the so-called Respect for Marriage Act has withdrawn his support, charging Democrats with “failing to provide legitimate safeguards for faith-based organizations” that hold “deeply-held religious beliefs” about natural marriage. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., announced on Monday that he will reverse his vote in favor of H.R. 8404, which skeptics call the “Disrespect for Marriage Act.” Although he favors laws that would equate same-sex relationships with marriage and once voted for the “Equality Act,” he said this bill goes too far. Heritage Expert: Emma Waters