💵 Dollar Tree is raising its price point from the namesake $1 to $1.25 as a result of the current inflationary economic environment, company President and CEO Michael Witynski said.

“We experienced a strong finish to the quarter, as shoppers are increasingly focused on value in this inflationary environment,” Witynski said on Tuesday. “Our Dollar Tree pricing tests have demonstrated broad consumer acceptance of the new price point and excitement about the additional offerings and extreme value we will be able to provide. Accordingly, we have begun rolling out the $1.25 price point at all Dollar Tree stores nationwide.”

👀The decision to raise the price point is permanent.

Energy independent under Trump: ex-POTUS calls out Joe Biden for his failure on handling energy.

🗣“We were energy independent one year ago. Now we are at the mercy of OPEC," the ex-president said in an interview with Fox News.

He also declared that if he were, in his words, "rightfully re-elected", by the end of his term the US would be producing more oil than Russia.

❗️ Taliban wants to discuss with US recognition of its gov’t and unfreezing of Afghan assets

China slams the US for inviting Taiwan to its ‘Summit for Democracy’: "China is firmly opposed to inviting Taiwan to the US-hosted ‘Summit for Democracy’," spokesman Zhao Lijian told a news briefing.

China itself wasn't among the 110 countries invited to this virtual event, according to a list of participants published by the US Department of State on its website.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on the upcoming 'Summit for Democracy': "This is nothing more than some kind of attempt to draw some new dividing lines. We fought in the early 1990s to remove these dividing lines. But now the United States, unfortunately, prefers to create new dividing lines and divide countries into good, in their mind, and bad, also in their mind."

🇺🇸Former US President Donald Trump told Fox News that he had recently met at his Mar-A-Lago residence with Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who was acquitted of charges of murdering two men and wounding another.

"Economy and Lowering Prices for the American People": While reading off a teleprompter, Joe Biden said "end of quote" out loud by mistake 😐

Joe Biden says the US is "experiencing the strongest economic recovery in the world," but reports reveal that the traditional holiday meal for Americans will cost 14% more than it did last year. Gasoline prices are also soaring.

Perhaps a little less turkey then...

❗ Biden nominates Shalanda Young as White House budget office director

⚡️🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran is “very close” to being able to build a nuclear weapon, top US general Kenneth McKenzie tells the Time magazine

🇺🇸📉 Joe Biden’s approval rating drops to 42% as inflation concerns grow, an NPR/Marist survey has found, in what is the lowest figure in its polling since the president took office

Iran is "very close" to being able to build a nuclear weapon, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of US Central Command, says: "They’re very close this time. I think they like the idea of being able to break out." He believes it will take Iran no more than a year to design a nuclear warhead.

It turns out that the suspect behind the Waukesha Christmas parade attack, Darrell Brooks, posted, to put it mildly, controversial memes and statements on his Facebook page. Among them are posts promoting violence towards white people and a meme about Adolf Hitler and the identity of the "real Jews."

❗ Jury in Ahmaud Arbery trial finds Travis McMichael guilty on all nine counts he faced

⚡️🇺🇸 The Biden administration has been quietly lobbying Democrats in Congress to remove Nord Stream 2 sanctions from the National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass spending bill, Foreign Policy reports. Secretary of State Blinken and his aides have been calling senators and asking them to kill amendments in the legislation which mandate new sanctions on the pipeline project.

⚖️ US President Joe Biden said that the convictions in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery show that the US justice system is “doing its job.”

🗣 “Ahmaud Arbery’s killing – witnessed by the world on video – is a devastating reminder of how far we have to go in the fight for racial justice in this country,” Biden said in a statement. “While the guilty verdicts reflect our justice system doing its job, that alone is not enough. Instead, we must recommit ourselves to building a future of unity and shared strength, where no one fears violence because of the color of their skin.”

🇲🇽 JUST IN | Biden to reportedly restart Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' policy next week.

Citing two government immigration officials, a new report detailed that Biden's version of the so-called 'Remain in Mexico' program will include COVID-19 vaccine opportunities for migrant adults. The jab is simply an offer, and could not be required otherwise.

DHS spokesperson Marsha Espinosa argued that the timeline of reinstating the MPP will be up to the Mexican government.

Father-son problems: Trump complained that son Barron wouldn’t say he loved him while comparing him to an unimpressed correspondent, Jonathan Karl.

🙃During an appearance to promote his book, ‘Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show’, Karl read an extract that detailed a bizarre anecdote regarding a meeting with the then-president in the Oval Office: ‘Jonathan is very cool.’ Trump told Zeke Miller about Karl, ‘He’s like my son.’ Trump then proceeded to reenact a conversation with his son. ‘Do you love your dad? I don’t know. But he does. But he’s too cool, the kids.’”

🗣 Karl commented on that moment: “I mean, this was, there have been many surreal moments. I can’t say if it was the most, but it was certainly in the top, top five.”

🇺🇸 The US has imposed export restrictions on Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology “on the basis of its production of military products for a military end-user.”

🇷🇺 Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov has called the claims “untenable” and “another missed opportunity to normalize bilateral relations.”

❌This is how NOT to fry a turkey.

🦃 Firefighters from the Gulfport Fire Department of Mississippi show the dangers of deep-frying a turkey.