Good morning. Here is what matters today, in five.
1. DHS to incoming Democrats: deportations will continue. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin posted that three-word message Wednesday afternoon, hours after Democrats won both chambers. It passed 4.6 million views by Thursday, as House Democrats promised hearings on ICE and tighter strings on its funding. via The National News Desk.
2. Two in five first-time buyers lean on Uncle Sam. The National Association of Realtors says 40 percent of first-time buyers used a government-backed loan this past year, as FHA’s book hit $1.65 trillion. FHA’s own report warns nearly 60 percent of borrowers it rescues fall behind again within a year. via The Center Square.
3. Harvard’s grad students strike, undergrads lose their sections. Members of the UAW-affiliated graduate union, on strike since October 27, drummed outside Emerson Hall Thursday chanting “shut it down,” while discussion sections across campus were canceled with no refund for the undergraduates paying for them. via the Washington Free Beacon.
A $60 billion endowment and the workers of the world still cannot find their TA.
4. Los Angeles picks a Democratic Socialist for mayor. Councilmember Nithya Raman, endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, beat Mayor Karen Bass 52 to 48 percent, and Bass conceded Thursday. L.A. joins New York, Seattle and Washington, D.C., in electing a democratic socialist mayor. via The Center Square.
Four socialist mayors, zero affordable apartments. The five-year plan starts any day now.
5. Newsom empties death row: all 548 sentences commuted. On his way out the door, Gov. Gavin Newsom reduced every California death sentence to life without parole, the largest clemency grant in modern U.S. history. Voters kept the death penalty in 2012 and 2016; prosecutors and victims’ families were not consulted. via The Center Square.
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