Layoffs down, but September jobs slow
September’s jobs report came in with just 29,000 positions added, well below the Dow Jones estimate of 84,000. The headline unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.2%, with the overall unemployment rate dropping slightly to 7.6%. Still, the market reacted positively to the news, as it suggests the Federal Reserve will likely not change interest rates in October. Meanwhile, more Americans are keeping their jobs, as layoffs are down nearly 40% from last year, hitting a four-year low. Furthermore, according to PNC Economic analysts, “We’re seeing early signs that wage growth may be picking up again, which could make it more difficult for the Fed to reduce inflation without raising rates.”
Judge denies Clancy attorney’s request
During the original trial, Lindsay Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington did not dispute that Clancy killed her three children, instead arguing she was not criminally responsible due to insanity and postpartum psychosis. Now, Reddington claims she is not guilty, and not enough evidence ties her to the murders. On Thursday, however, Massachusetts Judge William Sullivan denied Reddington’s bid to prevent a retrial. Sullivan ruled that the prosecution presented sufficient evidence and said the jury will consider the charges. Though he agreed that Clancy was suffering from mental illness, he disagreed with both of Reddington’s claims. “Mental illness alone does not preclude a finding of criminal responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt,” Sullivan said. In 2023, Clancy strangled her three little children, Cora, Dawson, and Callan. The recent trial renewed mainstream attention and spawned theories that her then-husband Patrick committed the murders, despite clear contradicting evidence.
Sanders, AOC draft bill to crack down on Flock cameras
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have introduced a bill that would essentially restrict the federal government from using AI-powered cameras, as well as accessing data collected from them. It would also include measures that would strongly encourage the states to follow suit. This comes as a response to widespread backlash against Flock Safety’s technology and privacy concerns. Even Sanders, famous for being a socialist proponent of government running nearly everything, draws the line at a surveillance state. Meanwhile, Flock’s recent claims that it has solved one million crimes appear to be dishonest, as the company had previously admitted to only being used in one million investigations. When a company is such a blatant example of government overreach that even the DSA opposes it, then it has really messed up.
Judge bans Congress from banning noncitizen voting
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz, a Joe Biden appointee, ruled that “Congress has no power to say who can vote or who cannot vote in federal elections.” Leibowitz cited federalism, reasoning, “Some legal principles are so fundamental that they form American constitutional bedrock, and this case reveals a big one: When you’re prosecuted based on a law that Congress did not have the authority to pass, the prosecution cannot stand.” Leibowitz’s ruling came in a case brought against an illegal immigrant charged with voting in the 2020 election. The ruling could significantly hamper the Trump administration’s efforts to prosecute a growing number of cases of noncitizens illegally voting.
DOJ throws charges at noncitizen voters
The Justice Department is prosecuting noncitizen voters, and it’s developing a case a day. The statute of limitations for noncitizen voting is only five years; still, prosecutors unveiled 11 more cases on Wednesday, with another added on Thursday. Democrats and their media shills will insist that illegal voting essentially never happens and that the evidence does not show widespread fraud. This wave of cases could create a “chilling effect for voters,” argued Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters. “The relevant question is whether or not the available evidence demonstrates it’s a widespread problem.” The administration and conservatives argue that the available evidence has not been collected to support that talking point. Administration officials argue the thousands of cases still under investigation prove widespread fraud.
Vance calls to eliminate H-1B Program
Vice President JD Vance has said he would support the elimination of the H-1B visa program. “My view is the H-1B program is completely broken,” he opined Thursday, “and I’d be very supportive of just eliminating it.” He went on to say that the program has been completely abused and that employers are hiring foreign workers to cut costs instead of providing a unique service. The H-1B program was created to temporarily bring in foreign workers with a specialty occupation or graduate-level career. The program has drawn heavy criticism; beyond abuse, it has brought in cheap labor instead of jobs that require education. Eliminating the program may be a stretch, but it urgently needs reform and has many issues to address.
Trump DOJ reexamining Nixon investigators
In a preliminary review, current DOJ officials were presented with a case of possible misconduct by prosecutors in the Richard Nixon scandal. Geoff Shephard, a former Nixon aide and Watergate historian, asked the Biden DOJ to let him present his case, but it refused. However, a senior Justice Department official invited Shepard to present his 78-page slide deck “Watergate as Lawfare” before the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), the office created in the wake of Watergate. Shepard includes many primary-source internal documents from the Watergate Special Prosecution Force that led the probe into Nixon and the others involved. He alleges that two of the prosecutors violated the due process rights of defendants in the Watergate scandal by meeting secretly with the judges who were overseeing the trials and suppressing evidence from the defense. The DOJ stated that the presentation does not constitute an investigation.
Trans murderer who killed two sentenced to 50 years
Last week, a Florida judge sentenced Julia Egler to 50 years in prison for murdering her mom, Kelley McCollom, and her mom’s boyfriend, Matthew Szejnrok. Biologically female, Egler claims to be a boy. The charges, originally first-degree premeditated murder, were reduced to second-degree murder after a plea deal. On July 7, 2024, Egler, then 16, waited in her Palm Bay home with a stolen .38-caliber revolver. When McCollom and Szejnrok entered, Egler shot them both and then stabbed Szejnrok with a knife. She called 9-1-1, claiming an intruder had committed the crime, but she confessed when police confronted her with the evidence. Egler admitted her motives to investigators, saying that McCollom and Szejnrok were “transphobic” because they misgendered her and didn’t support her transition. The Leftmedia failed to cover the story.
Minority of Americans call college “very important”
In 1985, when Gallup asked respondents to rate the significance of a college education, 64% answered that it was “very important.” Today, only 31% say college is “very important,” down 6% from last year and essentially the same as the 29% who said it was “not too important.” The decline in college valuation is stable across all demographics, with every group answering “very important” at least 11 points lower than in 2019. Black adults showed the sharpest decline, with 65% saying “very important” in 2019 and only 40% saying so today. Conservatives have begun to distrust higher learning because of its capture by Marxist ideologues, but it appears most Americans are starting to wonder what value college holds outside of a few career fields. President Trump recently cut access to student loans for low-earning-potential degrees, possibly forcing colleges to refocus on higher-learning fields.
Headlines
- Secret phone record seizure sparks personal lawsuit from GOP senator (Fox News)
- FTC opens sweeping probe of Anthropic, OpenAI and other “super intelligence” models (NY Post)
- Harvard faces backlash against push to hire conservative faculty (Washington Times)
- $1.7 million raised in scheme for Hamas, including from U.S. donors (CBS News)
The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, Jacob Geoffrey, Hudson Baldwin, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.
